With the coronavirus pandemic still wreaking havoc on our social, economical, and financial system; I’ve decided to start writing about another epidemic that has plagued our health care system for the last few decades: Low Back Pain.
Low back pain is one of the most challenging conditions that we treat as physical therapists. I’d like to write a series of blog posts on low back pain explaining its prevalence, risk factors, prognosis, pathoanatomic features, and treatment.
There is one sentence that I have come across from research studies that frightens me the most concerning low back pain, “Although advances have been made relative to the application of physical therapy and other treatments for people with low back pain, the overall economic and societal burden of this condition has not improved, and may actually be WORSENING in the last several years.”
In essence, we are not getting better at treating low back pain! Yes, new surgical techniques come out every year, but that really only pertains to less than 1% of the cases. It remains the most common cause of lost work and disability among working-age adults in industrialized countries. As a practitioner this is kind of disheartening, but I think better education on the nature of low back pain is the first step to decreasing its economic impact. Hence the blog.
Here are some facts on prevalence. Looking at different studies, the prevalence varies widely by study with ranges from 25-80% of people in the world reporting a history of low back pain. Another study showed prevalence of chronic low back pain (back pain > 3 months) increasing from 3.9% in 1992 to 10.2% in 2006. Finally, a 2012 systematic review reported that on a given single day, 11.9% of the population would report having back pain.
My main take away from this information… You are not alone! Globally there are millions of people that are experiencing back pain as well. It is essentially the common cold of musculoskeletal conditions, but instead of using social distancing to flatten this curve, we must come together with experiences, education, and research to reduce the fear related to this condition.